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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29853984">Picard's Secret</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merinnan/pseuds/Calicia'>Calicia (Merinnan)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Original Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Breaking the Fourth Wall, Crack, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Round Robin, Self-Insert, Star Wars - Freeform, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, We Have No Excuse For This, Wheel of Fortune, minor appearances by other characters - Freeform, originally written on alt.startrek.creative, so very ooc, this fic is old enough to legally drink which might explain a few things</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:54:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,815</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29853984</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merinnan/pseuds/Calicia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot of strange things are happening to Picard, and Q's behind it.</p><p>--</p><p>Co-written by AntiTrek, Calicia, Tasha, and shomizu</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Picard's Secret</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Look, we...honestly have no excuse for this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jean-Luc Picard settled back in his command chair. To his left. Mister Data sat at his station. To his right, was that newly assigned Ensign.</p><p>He watched as her graceful hands gently coaxed the touchpads into life, guiding the massive starship along its appointed path.</p><p>Suddenly, the old fear crept into Picard's awareness. His baldness. What was it? His fringe. The wrinkles ringing his eyelids. The pain in his hip. What was it that he had been thinking about? Picard's brow furrowed as he attempted to jump back on his mental train of thought.</p><p>He started and straightened out in the chair. He wiped the spittle from his mouth. He blinked and shook his head slightly. He had dozed off for a bit. Must be the fatigue.</p><p>Picard squinted at the blurry shapes in front of him. Yes, those were the crewmembers. He tried to focus, but age was taunting him again.</p><p>What was his name again?</p><p>***</p><p>Geordi LaForge turned from the holodeck simulation to the watching group.</p><p>"As we see here, Captain Picard is unfit to command."</p><p>Picard looked up. It hurt his neck. He gripped the sides of the chair as he spoke: "Geordi, I don't believe this. What is going on?"</p><p>Geordi grinned, a maniacal grin beneath his visor.</p><p>"I am the Captain now!" He began to leap around. "I am the Captain, you ship of pigs! I own all of you!"</p><p>***</p><p>Jean-Luc Picard woke with a start. He breathed deeply. What a strange dream. And then he looked at what he had been reading: A very old copy of James Blish's <i>Star Trek 8</i>.</p><p>That was what the cover said, anyway. However, inside was a copy of one of Ira Steven Behr's scripts. He shuddered. No wonder he'd fallen asleep. Why had he been reading that? He looked around the bridge, blinking. The new ensign was snoozing at her station.</p><p>"Ensign...AntiTrek!" Picard snapped. "Wake up!"</p><p>Then Picard saw that the rest of the bridge crew - except for Data, were also asleep. Each one had a copy of one of Behr's scripts beside them.</p><p>AntiTrek woke up and looked at him. "Yes sir?"</p><p>"Why are you reading...that?"</p><p>"You said it was a great work of English literature, sir. Better than Shakespeare, and everyone should read it."</p><p>Picard blinked, then found himself back to what seemed to be a few minutes ago, just waking up. The bridge crew was normal, no sign of that mysterious Ensign from his dream who had told him that he <i>liked</i> Behr's scripts. Everything was back to normal.</p><p>Commander Riker strode down the ramp and slipped into the chair to Picard's right. A smirk twisted his mouth. He seemed barely able to contain some kind of joviality. Riker leaned toward the Captain.</p><p>"Sir?" He coughed to subdue a chuckle.</p><p>Picard gazed straight ahead, into the depths of space, watching the stars rush past. "Yes, Will?"</p><p>"You, uh, dropped this sir." Riker quickly scooped up a book at Picard's feet. He coughed again as he handed the book over.</p><p>"What the hell is this Will? Some kind of joke?" Picard held the book by finger and thumb, arm extended.</p><p>"It was by your chair, sir." At this, Riker chuckled.</p><p>"I do not read any Beatrix Potter. I am quite beyond such friviolity." He glanced over at his second in command, but he was not there. In his place was a large rabbit. The rabbit extended a paw.</p><p>"Hullo. My name is Peter. Do you have any carrots?"</p><p>Picard snapped. "This has gone too far! Q! Where are you? Show yourself!"</p><p>Peter Cottontail leapt off the seat and melted into the form Picard knew so well. Q smugly took the book, turned it over.</p><p>"My, my, Jean-Luc, your taste in literature has improved."</p><p>Picard growled "Get off my ship, Q."</p><p>"Tut, tut, mon capitaine. It is time for you to go on a little journey."</p><p>At that, Picard vanished in a burst of light.</p><p>***</p><p>Captain Picard reappeared in another burst of light, to find himself in a semi-dark wildly decorated room. He suddenly realized he was hanging about a foot above the ground, just as he fell to the floor, injuring his...pride.</p><p>Q appeared before him, chewing a carrot, "Eeeh, what's up, Doc?"</p><p>Picard could stand no more, "Stop this charade, Q! I refuse to participate in any more of your games!"</p><p>"Ahh, but this is not a game, mon capitaine," Q replied with a smirk, "There is a person here who wishes to see you."</p><p>At that moment, from a dim corner of the room came a young girl in an Admiral's uniform. Tossing her blond hair over one shoulder she grinned maliciously before chirping, "Hi dad!"</p><p>Picard screamed.</p><p>Picard leapt away from the now midgeted Nechayev, only to find himself against a wall.  The little admiral advanced upon him, and drew a long, slender gourd-like vegetable from her uniform. Her tiny white teeth glittered in the strange light, and she raised the cucumber over her head.  Cackling, she swung it towards him, and he dodged to the side just in time.  The vegetable impacted with the wall, and dug a large chunk out of it, spraying tile and white wall chips all over the floor.</p><p>"I must SQUASH you, Picard!  Squash!  Get it?? Wahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!"</p><p>Picard rolled his eyes, and spun out of the way of the deadly cucumber.  Lashing out with his right leg, he connected with the girl's head, and screamed again as she caught his ankle in her teeth. She clamped down viciously, ripping the fabric of his uniform trousers.</p><p>Yanking his calf from her mouth, he looked down, and saw that she had left marks...in a wooden leg!  He reached down and yanked his now false appendage from its socket.  Balancing on one leg, he raised it over his head, and let loose a thundering battle cry...</p><p>"Aaaarrrrrggggggh....."</p><p>...and was stopped by Q's hand on his shoulder, nearly sending him tumbling.</p><p>"Jean-Luc, what are you doing?"</p><p>The omnipotent being slung him to the floor, and Picard's head impacted with...a pile of books? Hard-covers, soft-covers, thick, thin, they all went tumbling to the floor when Picard landed against them.</p><p>The Nechayev midget had disappeared, and he was in a different room, one that appeared to be on Earth from a quick glance out the window.</p><p>"Q! What am I doing here? Where am I?"</p><p>Q sat on a box, nibbling at another carrot. "Kill the wabbit!" he said suddenly.</p><p>"What!? What are you talking about?"</p><p>Q pointed to the window. "Look, Jean-Luc."</p><p>Picard went to the window and looked out. A large parade was below, of old -- motorcars? People crowded the streets, waving to two people in an open car. Picard looked closer, and gasped as he recognised the man from history tapes. But something was wrong. The President of the United States was wearing....bunny ears.</p><p>"Kill the wabbit, mon capitaine," Q repeated. The wooden leg, which Picard was surprised to find he had still been holding, turned into a gun. He turned to Q.</p><p>"Are you insane? I can't..."</p><p>"You have to," Q said. "He has to die or the future as you know it won't exist."</p><p>"Wait, wait, WAIT!" Appearing out of nowhere a plump woman levitated next to Q and Picard, "Q, darling, what are you doing?"</p><p>Q seemed to quiver and shrink, "I was just having a little fun..."</p><p>"Fun? Honey, you are messing with the whole space-time sheebang here. Now, you and I," here her voice lowered to a conspiratiorial whisper, "you and I, we both know who really killed the wabbit, don't we?"</p><p>"Yes mother," Q replied meekly.</p><p>"Now, you get this poor dear," she patted Picard on the head, "back to his little ship and you run along home, 'cause honey, we've been worried sick about you! Didn't I tell you not to play with the humans?" With a stern look at Q the woman disappeared.</p><p>Picard looked at Q quizzically. "What was that about?" he asked.</p><p>"Shut up, Picard," Q replied, seeming slightly embarrassed.</p><p>"'Yes mother'?" Picard pressed.</p><p>"Q's have parents too," Q said. "Unfortunately," he added under his breath.</p><p>Picard picked up a book that fell to the ground when Mother Q had vanished.</p><p>"'Parenting ,'" he read. "'How to handle problem children.'"</p><p>"Give me that!" The book abruptly turned into a ball of fire, before the room faded from sight.</p><p>Another room took its place. It was a dimly light place, with a romantic table for two set in the middle. Picard found himself sitting across from Beverly who was smiling at him seductively. Q was no-where to be seen.</p><p>"Jean Luc...." Beverly drawled, "There's something I've been meaning to tell you." Suddenly she burst into tears, "I'm so sorry about Kes Pritt!"</p><p>Q voice boomed to interrupt her, "Writer! WRITER!"</p><p>An annoyed voice could be heard over the clatter of keys, "What?"</p><p>"They're no fun when they're not in character!" Q complained.</p><p>"Well, excuse me!" the voice replied, sounding even more annoyed.</p><p>"But I could forgive you," Q continued slyly, "If you make the rating, say, a bit higher? Perhaps even NC-17, hmm?"</p><p>"Not on your life," the voice countered and the sound of keys stopped.</p><p>Suddenly Mother Q reappeared. Her hands on her hips she boomed, "Q! What have I told you about reading TrekSmut? You are grounded Mister!" The female Q seemed to become bigger until she could pick Picard up in the palm of her hand.</p><p>" Q, you have been misbehaving. Didn't I tell you to let this poor thing go? The ASPCH will have your head for this!"   With that she deposited the poor thing back into his bed on the Enterprise.</p><p>***</p><p>Picard woke, sweating. He breathed deeply, sharply. What the hell? What kind of madness had created all of these events? And then he looked and saw the Talosians behind the glass barrier of his cage.</p><p>"An interesting specimen, Keeper" the first Talosian thought.</p><p>"More amusing than Captain Pike" The Keeper thought back.</p><p>Then they entered the elevator and it closed.</p><p>Picard fell back on the bed and looked at the ceiling. How had he gotten here? Why couldn't he remember? What was really going on?</p><p>He felt, rather than heard movement. He swept around, and there was Captain Kirk. Not as he had met him, but as Kirk had been during the first five year mission of the Enterprise.</p><p>"You are not real." Picard whispered. "You are a trick of my mind."</p><p>Kirk arrogantly sauntered over to the foot of Picard's bed. Then he revealed the phaser that he had hidden. "Let's...get...out...of...here," said Kirk.</p><p>"Why are you speaking like that?" Picard said.</p><p>"Like...what?!" Kirk gesticulated wildly. He fired the phaser, punching a huge hole through the cage's glass wall. The two Captains jumped out and raced toward the elevator.</p><p>Suddenly, Finnegan ran around another corner.</p><p>"Finnegan, help us!" called Kirk.</p><p>Finnegan grinned. "I don't help plebes, Jimmy boy!"</p><p>Kirk glared. "Finnegan, that's over 150 years ago! I'm not even alive anymore! You've got to help us!"</p><p>Picard grabbed Kirk's arm. "Then you are an illusion!"</p><p>"No, Captain" said Kirk, "I am an android."</p><p>[Dramatic sixties music as Kirk opens his 'stomach' and reveals cheesy looking dials and huge lights blinking against a piece of cardboard painted silver.]</p><p>Kirk closed his stomach. "I don't even know what those things are for." He shrugged and fired the phaser again, blasting the elevator doors open. Kirk, Picard and Finnegan rushed into the elevator and hit the 'up' button. At the same time.</p><p>"Ow" said Picard, withdrawing his hand. Finnegan sucked on bruised fingers and Kirk just grinned smugly - he could not feel pain anyway.</p><p>***</p><p>They were cruising through deep space when it happened. Picard stood up. "Does this thing have a privy?"</p><p>Kirk frowned. "Damn! I knew I forgot something! This shuttlecraft was built by androids."</p><p>Suddenly a small craft flew past them. It was shaped like a ball, with two vertical wings, one mounted on either side of it.</p><p>"Hmm, Twin Ion Engine...and it looks like some kind of fighter," said Picard.</p><p>"Look Jimmie boy, it's headed towards that moon" pointed Finnegan.</p><p>"That's no moon, that's a space station." said Picard.</p><p>"I've got a bad feeling about this" whispered Finnegan.</p><p>"I think you're right, old man! Chewie! Turn the ship around!" Kirk yelled.</p><p>***</p><p>The elevator reached the surface of Talos IV very quickly and our three heroes rushed toward a waiting shuttlecraft.</p><p>Picard looked around the shuttle as he sat down.</p><p>"Weren't we already in a shuttle?" he asked.</p><p>"No, that was an illusion created by the Talosians to make you think you had escaped." Kirk replied.</p><p>"Then there is a privy?" Picard said hopefully. Kirk looked remarkably embarrassed for an android, while Finnegan sat grinning.</p><p>"Sorry, the illusion was pretty accurate. Now hold on, we're taking off."</p><p>The shuttle rose jerkily into the air, and flew off unevenly. Picard and Finnegan were thrown around inside the cabin.</p><p>"Kirk!" Picard yelled. "What are you doing!?"</p><p>"I'm an android, not a pilot!" Kirk replied defensively. "And you should've put your seatbelts on!"</p><p>Picard and Finnegan strapped the seatbelts on as the shuttle flew away from Talos IV. At the edge of the system, they met the U.S.S Melbourne-B.</p><p>"I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard," Picard said in response to the hails. The <i>Melbourne's</i> captain appeared on the viewscreen.</p><p>"Q!"</p><p>"Tut tut, mon capitaine," 'Captain' Q said. "You should know that visiting Talos IV is punishable by death under Federation law." He turned to one of the <i>Melbourne's</i> bridge crew - an Orion pirate. Picard stared in amazement.</p><p>"Are the phaser banks charged and the torpedo bays loaded?" he asked.</p><p>"Yes sir."</p><p>"Fire at will."</p><p>"Umm...Sir?"</p><p>Q turned slowly and regarded the Orion with amazement.  "Is there a problem?"</p><p>The Orion looked positively terrified.  Picard had often wondered if that was possible.  "Er..Our weapons just went offline."</p><p>Q gazed at the Orion's tactical display.  "Error Code 1013...'No-One Named Will Aboard Targeted Vessel'!!!  Is this some sort of joke?"</p><p>"Perhaps they are using some sort of secret weap.."</p><p>The Orion was cut off as Q backhanded him harshly.  "You blithering fool! They are mere mortals, and..."</p><p>"And they have many powerful friends, Q."</p><p>Q stared at the figure who had appeared at the rear of his bridge. Picard, Kirk, and Finnegan did likewise, and Picard gasped.</p><p>"Guinan? What is she doing over there?"</p><p>Q leapt at the dark skinned El-Aurian, and fury poured from his eyes.</p><p>"You!  I'll tear out your throat for this!"</p><p>Picard noticed that Guinan didn't look particularly frightened, and he soon saw why.  Letting loose a full throated battle cry, she brought her hands up quickly, and levelled a fairy wand at Q. With a wave of the wand and a "boopity, bopity, boo!" Q turned into a tribble. The Q tribble squeaked in indignation, while everyone except Guinan looked on in amazement.</p><p>Picard's mouth opened and closed several times before any sound came out. "Guinan..."</p><p>Guinan looked at him calmly. "Yes, Jean-Luc?"</p><p>"You...you...you..."</p><p>"You will pay for this!" Q announced. Everyone's eyes swivelled back to him. He had changed back to a human form - mostly.</p><p>"Uh, sir?" the Orion said cautiously.</p><p>"What?!"</p><p>The Orion gestured to the top of Q's head. Q felt it, then changed the tribble fur to hair before turning furiously back to Guinan.</p><p>"It was agreed that you would keep out of this!"</p><p>"It was agreed that you wouldn't kill them," she replied. At that, Mother Q appeared.</p><p>"Q, honey," she said. "Were you breaking the rules again?"</p><p>Q cringed. Mother Q turned to Guinan.</p><p>"It won't happen again," she said. "So you can go." With a wave of Mother Q's hand, Guinan disappeared from the bridge of the <i>Melbourne</i>.</p><p>"Now Q," Mother Q said. "Don't you think this has gone far enough? I mean, Johnnie here is one thing, but the others?" She frowned over the viewscreen at Kirk and Finnegan. "And that Beverly episode..."</p><p>Q sighed. "Mother, for once let me do things <i>my</i> way."</p><p>"Q, honey..."</p><p>Q grimaced, and Kirk and Finnegan abruptly disappeared.</p><p>"Happy?" Q asked through gritted teeth. Mother Q nodded, then addressed Picard.</p><p>"Don't worry, Q will return you in one piece," she said soothingly, then left.</p><p>"More or less, anyway," Q muttered.</p><p>As Q's utterance faded from his ears, Picard found himself lying in his cabin, squinting into the lights above his bed.  They had come on fifteen minutes ago, as had his wake-up Vivaldi.  Grimacing, he reached over and slapped the snooze button on the bed's console.  The blaring trumpet concerto was silenced, and the lights dimmed a little.</p><p>Rubbing his eyes, Picard stumbled out of bed, and made his way to the shower.  After a brief sonic washing, he dragged on his uniform, cleaned his teeth, and hurried out the door, nearly knocking over a crewman in the passageway.  "Excuse me, Ensign."</p><p>"Sir."</p><p>Making his way to the turbolift by his cabin, he stepped inside.  As the lift began humming towards the bridge, he decided that being a captain had its advantages.  He had gotten to choose the spacious accommodations near the lift, and who was going to berate him for being a little late?</p><p>Will Riker smiled as his captain came off the turbolift.  "Sleep in a little, sir?"</p><p>Picard put on a sheepish grin, and made his way down the ramp to his seat.  "Sorry, number one.  I had an awful..."</p><p>BLAAAAAAAATTTT!</p><p>Picard leapt out of his seat and halfway to the viewscreen before he turned around.</p><p>"What the hell was that??!?!?"</p><p>Riker's eyes were as big around as dinner plates, and he stared down at the captain's seat.  He picked up a small rubber object, similar to a child's ball.  Holding it out for the entire crew to see, he scowled.</p><p>"All right.  Who put the whoopi cushion in the Captain's chair???"</p><p>Several of the lower ranking bridge complement looked back and forth at one another, most of them trying unsuccessfully to stifle grins.  Picard glared at each one of them, and his next words were low and deadly.</p><p>"So!  Mess with the captain, is it?  Play with the old man's emotions, eh?"</p><p>He took a menacing step toward the conn, and the ensign seemed to shrink into his seat.</p><p>"The crew ran an electrical port through my door activation stud, and I laughed.  On my last birthday, the crew gave me a wedgie that Dr Crusher had to remove surgically, and I giggled."</p><p>He leaned right into the ensign's face, and the heat of his breath could have condensed on her smooth face.  "No more!  The line must be drawn HERE!"</p><p>He slapped his hand on the CONN so hard that the Tac officer in the back jumped.</p><p>And then the laughter began, and didn't stop for some time.  Everyone turned to stare at the person manning the Ops console, everyone but Picard.  He knew the laugh of....</p><p>That laugh. First a chuckle, then a guffaw, then erupting into a fullscale barrage.</p><p>PIcard felt the laugh rip through his spine, shake his brain and then rattle his teeth.</p><p>He straightened and forced himself to turn toward that awful sound.</p><p>He swallowed as he beheld the bloated visage before him.</p><p>"Look, Jabba, I was on my way to pay you..."</p><p>Jabba the Hutt chuckled, a menacing double basso profundo chuckle.</p><p>"Take him away," he slobbered in Huttese. A massive arm waved an Enterprise crewman towards Picard.</p><p>"I am the captain, you ship of pigs" Picard screamed. "I own all of you, I..."</p><p>Spock pinched him on the neck, and Picard fell in a heap to the deck.</p><p>Jabba inched away from the Ops console. It had been very uncomfortable squeezing into such a confined space, but it was worth it, to capture Picard. "Ho Ho Ho", Jabba chuckled.</p><p>Pat Sajak stood before Picard, as he woke. "What the hell?" Picard began. Then as he began to spin, he realized that he was strapped to the Wheel of Fortune.</p><p>Doctor Korby stood close by. "This is how we make an android, Christine." He clapped. "Big money, big money."</p><p>The wheel began spinning faster and faster. Out of nowhere, dramatic sixties music spewed.</p><p>The wheel slowed. Pat Sajak turned to Doctor Korby. "Pick a letter"</p><p>Korby thought a moment, then "An X please."</p><p>Christine Chapel fought to not turn the X, but the Platonians mental powers were too strong. As she turned the X, electrical current surged through Picard's body.</p><p>"You interfering halfbreed, I won't tolerate your interference, Mister Riker" Picard muttered over and over.</p><p>"Spin the wheel, Roger," said Pat.</p><p>Picard stopped muttering suddenly, as Q appeared again. The fog in his mind cleared, and he looked around at the bizarre scene.</p><p>"Q! What is going on?!" he demanded.</p><p>Q looked equally unimpressed. "Writer!"</p><p>"What?" an annoyed voice asked.</p><p>"Too many cross-overs! This <i>can't</i> be part of the story, these were 400 years before Jean-Luc was born!"</p><p>"But..."</p><p>"Get rid of it. Now, or I'll make you babysit again!"</p><p>Everything abruptly vanished, and Picard was dumped unceremoniously back on an empty <i>Enterprise</i> bridge. Picard stood, straightening his uniform.</p><p>"Q..." he said angrily.</p><p>"Oh, stop that, Jean-Luc. You sound like an annoying human brat."</p><p>"I want an explanation." Picard said.</p><p>"This entire scenario was taken from your mind. What <i>you</i> want to happen," Q said condescendingly. Then he scowled. "Except when the writer decided to have a little fun. I must say, Jean-Luc, some of your deepest desires are decidedly warped. Do you *really* want me to have a mother like that? Q's don't even have parents."</p><p>"My mind...?"</p><p>Q smirked. "It was a most interesting study, mon capitaine. But it's getting a little boring now." He vanished abruptly, and Picard was sitting at his desk in the ready room. He got up and went onto the bridge.</p><p>"Is there a problem sir?" Riker asked.</p><p>"No, number one," Picard replied. "Not anymore." He left the bridge and went to Sickbay.</p><p>"Yes, Jean-Luc?" Crusher asked. Picard blinked. He didn't even know why he had come here. And remembering Crusher's behaviour in Q's little scenario, along with Q's urging for a higher-rating relationship and Q's claim that it was what <i>he</i>, Jean-Luc Picard, wanted, he felt very uncomfortable being around her.</p><p>"Nothing, doctor," he said quickly. "It doesn't matter. Good-bye." He left abruptly, leaving Crusher staring after him in confusion.</p><p>As Picard walked down the corridor, he thought he heard a familiar voice.</p><p>"See? I told you nothing would happen if you did that." Q chided.</p><p>"Q?" Picard asked, turning. He caught a glimpse of Q with a....child? before they both vanished. Shaking his head, Picard went back to his quarters for a nap. He had to have been seeing things.</p>
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